Road Trippin'

It has been raining or cloudy since we reached Mt. Rainier several days ago. Today we moved camp from Poulsbo (on the Kitsap Peninsula) to the Sequim/Port Angeles area (on the Olympic Peninsula). Traffic was ridiculous because it is Sequim’s biggest tourist weekend of the year: the annual lavender festival. The girls gave me the thumbs-up to pass by all the lavender farms, so we skipped it. It rained off and on the entire hour’s drive, and it was cloudy/foggy/misty the rest of the day. After setting up the camper in the KOA, we drove out to the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. For $3, a ranger lets you and whoever is with you hike down to the beach. From there, you’re on the Dungeness Spit, a thin band of sand and plants running almost 6 miles out into the ocean. One side was closed for nesting habitats, but the open side had a steady group of people walking the shoreline; however, the crowds thinned quickly as you moved away from the trailhead. It was 5.5 miles out to the lighthouse, but we only had three water bottles and a bag of Swedish Fish.  We had no plans to make it very far.

The half-mile walk to the beach trail

The Dungeness Spit is a narrow strip of land; you can see the walking beach on the left and the nesting (off-limits) beach on the right

The girls had never before seen the ocean, and, well . . . I’m not sure you could say they saw it today. The heavy mist made it difficult to see more than waves and sand. We’ll call it an introduction. We arrived two hours before high tide, so the waves continually forced us to higher ground.

Playing in the surf

Julia and her walking stick

Elizabeth stayed out of the water as much as possible. 

She spent her time taking pictures of dead sea creatures. 

We’re going to have to visit a beach at low tide so she can maybe see some crabs/starfish that aren’t in pieces or smelly. 

Climbing around on the driftwood

Julia explores the water

Cold!

Sometimes those waves come in fast!

More driftwood

The walk back to the car:  Lovin’ the moss

After the beach, we drove into the closest town, Port Angeles, looking for ice cream. It was a downpour as we drove around to find parking, but the sun actually came out as we ate our cones and walked a couple of blocks.

Any Twilight reader knows Port Angeles is where those crazy kids from Forks go out to eat or shopping for prom dresses. We took a few pics and visited the Twilight-themed store. I have no idea what else in town might be noteworthy. We’re guessing the costumed gentlemen outside the Twlight store selling tour tickets might be able to tell us, but we weren’t feeling it enough to actually sign up.

You won’t see this restaurant in the movie (most of it was shot in Portland), but this is the Port Angeles Italian restaurant Stephenie Meyer

imagined as Edward and Bella’s first date.  

A photograph of the author from a location visit hangs

in the window next to the menu.

They even added Bella’s dining selection to the menu (mushroom ravioli)

Port Angeles

Ice cream near the downtown fountains

The local bookstore can give you your Twilight fix

We were surprised this store was busy

We were back at camp with enough time to fix a decent dinner (spaghetti & steamed veggies). Girls spent time reading before getting some sleep.